USA Rugby League
Encyclopedia
The USA Rugby League is a semi-professional
rugby league football competition based in the United States. The league was founded in 2011 by clubs that had broken with the established American National Rugby League
(AMNRL), plus expansion franchises. The USARL began its inaugural season in 2011
.
(AMNRL), the United States' established rugby league organization and recognized governing body for the sport, announced they were breaking with the AMNRL to form a new league. The stated reason for the split was dissatisfaction with the governance of the AMNRL; the departing teams were unhappy with the lack of club involvement in the league's decision making. The new league will include its member clubs in its administration.
On January 13, 2011, the USARL announced that Peter Illfield, chairmen of the Philadelphia Fight
, would be the league's first Chairman. The league's first event was a rugby league nines
tournament in the Philadelphia area on May 28–29, 2011. Round 1 of the regular season championship kicked off on June 4; the Jacksonville Axemen
won the minor premiership with the best regular season record. In the inaugural Grand Final on August 27, the Philadelphia Fight
defeated the New Haven Warriors
to win their first ever national championship.
tournament. The regular season will run through June and July, with each team playing every other team, and one team twice, in four home and four away games. Teams will qualify for the playoffs based on point differential, with a win counting for 2 points, a draw for 1, a loss for 0, and a forfeit for -2. The playoffs consist of a two-round single-elimination tournament
in August. The season's top four teams will compete in a semi-final round, with the two winners going on to the Grand Final.
, the New Haven Warriors
, the Philadelphia Fight
, and the Washington DC Slayers, plus three new teams, the New Jersey Turnpike Titans
, the Rhode Island Rebellion, and Oneida FC. These teams have committed to the league's standards of operations, including travel, venue, and scheduling obligations.
In 2011 the Jacksonville Axemen also launched a reserve grade competition, the "Firehouse Subs
" Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players. The competing teams are the Daytona Gearheads, the Jacksonville Hatchets, and the Orlando Adrenaline.
Semi-professional
A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional...
rugby league football competition based in the United States. The league was founded in 2011 by clubs that had broken with the established American National Rugby League
American National Rugby League
The American National Rugby League is a rugby league football competition for semi-professional clubs in the United States. It is the country's first domestic rugby league competition...
(AMNRL), plus expansion franchises. The USARL began its inaugural season in 2011
2011 USARL season
The 2011 USARL season is the inaugural season of the USA Rugby League . The league was formed in January 2011 as a breakaway competition from the American National Rugby League . The regular season kicked off on June 4 and ended on July 30; the Jacksonville Axemen won the minor premiership with the...
.
History
The formation of the USA Rugby League was announced on January 12, 2011. Seven teams that had previously competed in the American National Rugby LeagueAmerican National Rugby League
The American National Rugby League is a rugby league football competition for semi-professional clubs in the United States. It is the country's first domestic rugby league competition...
(AMNRL), the United States' established rugby league organization and recognized governing body for the sport, announced they were breaking with the AMNRL to form a new league. The stated reason for the split was dissatisfaction with the governance of the AMNRL; the departing teams were unhappy with the lack of club involvement in the league's decision making. The new league will include its member clubs in its administration.
On January 13, 2011, the USARL announced that Peter Illfield, chairmen of the Philadelphia Fight
Philadelphia Fight
The Philadelphia Fight are a semi-professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are the current champions of the USA Rugby League. They play their home games at A. A...
, would be the league's first Chairman. The league's first event was a rugby league nines
Rugby league nines
Rugby league nines is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in festivals, as its shorter game play allows for a tournament to be...
tournament in the Philadelphia area on May 28–29, 2011. Round 1 of the regular season championship kicked off on June 4; the Jacksonville Axemen
Jacksonville Axemen
-Southeastern Rugby League Championship:In 2011 the Axemen launched a reserve grade competition, the Firehouse Subs Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players...
won the minor premiership with the best regular season record. In the inaugural Grand Final on August 27, the Philadelphia Fight
Philadelphia Fight
The Philadelphia Fight are a semi-professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are the current champions of the USA Rugby League. They play their home games at A. A...
defeated the New Haven Warriors
New Haven Warriors
-Stadium:The Warriors home ground is Ken Strong Stadium at West Haven High School in West Haven, Connecticut.-Statistics and records:Biggest winning marginBiggest losing marginMost points for the clubMost points in a match...
to win their first ever national championship.
List of championship titles
| Season | Championship Final Information | Regular Season Premiers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-Up | ||
| 2011 2011 USARL season The 2011 USARL season is the inaugural season of the USA Rugby League . The league was formed in January 2011 as a breakaway competition from the American National Rugby League . The regular season kicked off on June 4 and ended on July 30; the Jacksonville Axemen won the minor premiership with the... |
Philadelphia Fight Philadelphia Fight The Philadelphia Fight are a semi-professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are the current champions of the USA Rugby League. They play their home games at A. A... |
|
New Haven Warriors New Haven Warriors -Stadium:The Warriors home ground is Ken Strong Stadium at West Haven High School in West Haven, Connecticut.-Statistics and records:Biggest winning marginBiggest losing marginMost points for the clubMost points in a match... |
Jacksonville Axemen Jacksonville Axemen -Southeastern Rugby League Championship:In 2011 the Axemen launched a reserve grade competition, the Firehouse Subs Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players... (14 pts) |
Season structure
Beginning in their inaugural 2011 year, the USARL season consists of an eight-game regular season, followed by a playoffs series culminating in a Grand Final for the National Championship. The first event of the season was a pre-season rugby league ninesRugby league nines
Rugby league nines is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in festivals, as its shorter game play allows for a tournament to be...
tournament. The regular season will run through June and July, with each team playing every other team, and one team twice, in four home and four away games. Teams will qualify for the playoffs based on point differential, with a win counting for 2 points, a draw for 1, a loss for 0, and a forfeit for -2. The playoffs consist of a two-round single-elimination tournament
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
in August. The season's top four teams will compete in a semi-final round, with the two winners going on to the Grand Final.
Teams
On February 18, 2011 the USARL announced that eight teams were committed to play in the "Top Tier" competition for the upcoming season. These teams include five former AMNRL teams, the Boston Thirteens, the Jacksonville AxemenJacksonville Axemen
-Southeastern Rugby League Championship:In 2011 the Axemen launched a reserve grade competition, the Firehouse Subs Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players...
, the New Haven Warriors
New Haven Warriors
-Stadium:The Warriors home ground is Ken Strong Stadium at West Haven High School in West Haven, Connecticut.-Statistics and records:Biggest winning marginBiggest losing marginMost points for the clubMost points in a match...
, the Philadelphia Fight
Philadelphia Fight
The Philadelphia Fight are a semi-professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are the current champions of the USA Rugby League. They play their home games at A. A...
, and the Washington DC Slayers, plus three new teams, the New Jersey Turnpike Titans
New Jersey Turnpike Titans
-Stadium:The New Jersey Turnpike Titans train at Lincoln Park, Jersey City, New Jersey. They play their home games at Cochran Stadium in Liberty State Park in Jersey City....
, the Rhode Island Rebellion, and Oneida FC. These teams have committed to the league's standards of operations, including travel, venue, and scheduling obligations.
| US>RL teams | ||||
| Team | Stadium | City/Area | Foundation | Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Thirteens | Saunders Stadium | Boston, Massachusetts | 2009 | 2011 |
| Jacksonville Axemen Jacksonville Axemen -Southeastern Rugby League Championship:In 2011 the Axemen launched a reserve grade competition, the Firehouse Subs Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players... |
Hodges Stadium Hodges Stadium Hodges Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the University of North Florida , and the home field for the North Florida Ospreys soccer, track and field, and cross country teams. It is located on the university's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S... |
Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968... |
2006 | 2011 |
| New Haven Warriors New Haven Warriors -Stadium:The Warriors home ground is Ken Strong Stadium at West Haven High School in West Haven, Connecticut.-Statistics and records:Biggest winning marginBiggest losing marginMost points for the clubMost points in a match... |
Ken Strong Stadium | New Haven, Connecticut New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and... |
2006 | 2011 |
| New Jersey Turnpike Titans New Jersey Turnpike Titans -Stadium:The New Jersey Turnpike Titans train at Lincoln Park, Jersey City, New Jersey. They play their home games at Cochran Stadium in Liberty State Park in Jersey City.... |
Lincoln Park | Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay... |
2011 | 2011 |
| Oneida FC | MIT Steinbrenner Stadium | Boston, Massachusetts | 2011 | 2011 |
| Philadelphia Fight Philadelphia Fight The Philadelphia Fight are a semi-professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are the current champions of the USA Rugby League. They play their home games at A. A... |
A. A. Garthwaite Stadium | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... |
1998 | 2011 |
| Rhode Island Rebellion | Classical High School Classical High School Classical High School, founded in 1843, is a public exam school in the Providence School District, in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It was originally an all-male school, but has since become co-ed... |
Providence, Rhode Island Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region... |
2011 | 2011 |
| Washington DC Slayers | Duke Ellington Field | Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... |
2003 | 2011 |
Developmental teams
As part of the 2011 season, a former AMNRL team, the Pittsburgh Sledgehammers, participated as a "developmental team". The team will play a more limited schedule while developing the club for future seasons. Several other clubs have registered "developing" teams: these include the Denver Wolverines, the Los Angeles Raiders, the Orange County Outlaws, the Seattle Force and Texas Rugby League (which will field two teams, the Dallas Dragons and the Houston Hornets). Several of these are established developing teams that were previously aligned with the AMNRL; the USARL has committed to support them in their development. Another team, the Utah Avalanche, were formerly affiliated as a developmental team, and participated in the 2011 USARL 9s tournament.In 2011 the Jacksonville Axemen also launched a reserve grade competition, the "Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs, is a US-based, fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in hot subs. Founded in 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida by former firefighter brothers Robin and Chris Sorensen, Firehouse Subs serves sandwiches with meats and cheeses, "steamed" hot and placed on produce on a toasted sub...
" Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players. The competing teams are the Daytona Gearheads, the Jacksonville Hatchets, and the Orlando Adrenaline.
| U>ARL Developing Teams | ||
| Team | City/Area | Foundation |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas Dragons | Dallas, Texas Dallas, Texas Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States... |
2011 |
| Denver Wolverines | Denver, Colorado Denver, Colorado The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains... |
2010 |
| Houston Hornets | Houston, Texas Houston, Texas Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ... |
2011 |
| Los Angeles Raiders | Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... |
2011 |
| Orange County Outlaws | Orange County, California Orange County, California Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County... |
2011 |
| Pittsburgh Sledgehammers | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States... |
2009 |
| Seatle Force | Seattle, Washington Seattle, Washington Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country... |
2010 |